This has been quite the week for Monica and me. Last Thursday afternoon we drove to Valparaiso, IN (Actually, I should say our son Joel drove us there and back because I was seated in the rear seat the entirety of both drives). On Friday our other son Matthew and his wife Rachel flew to Hawaii to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary (Well, they actually flew on Saturday because their Friday flight was cancelled at the last minute). On Monday afternoon, on our way back from Valparaiso, we stopped to pick up our two granddaughters from Rachel’s parents and have been staying with them at Matt and Rachel’s house this week. This afternoon they will be returned back to the original set of grandparents for the completion of the week – and we will move back into our condo (finally!).

I met with a young father this week to make funeral arrangements for his grandmother and aunt, who both died suddenly two days apart last month.  He is responsible for making the arrangements because his grandmother was a widow and his aunt never married.  And in case you are wondering, his father is deceased, his mother has been bed-ridden since she broke her neck some years ago, and his only sibling is confined to a wheelchair with MS.  In spite of all these stressors, he seemed to be functioning quite well.